Tuesday, 24 March 2009

Πέμπτη, 12 Μαρτίου 2009 Έλληνες πανεπιστημιακοί Δράση - Επιστολές A group of Greek academics respond to a Balkanalysis.com interview (12/14/08) featuring University of Chicago Professor of Slavic Languages & Literatures and Linguistics Victor Friedman, and focusing on Balkan history and culture.

Ime romeos e xeuro plus glose Fazio degli Uberti, Il Dittamondo, 3.23.36March, 2009In his interview on Balkanalysis.com (12/14/2008) [1], Linguistics professor and Balkan Studies scholar Victor Friedman portrays Greeks as a most undemocratic and oppressive nation, from ancient to present time, and places the role of Greece in the Balkans in a most negative light. The core of his arguments seems to lie in what he considers suppression of multilingualism and minorities in Greece, which he associates with the current dispute between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) on the name of the latter country. As scholars and academics, some of us students of Macedonian history and culture, we wish to offer an alternative perspective and rebut Friedman’s views and assertions in regard to the identity of the modern Greek nation and the true nature of the current dispute between Greece and FYROM. It should be noted that, prior to our decision to write this letter, we invited Dr. Friedman to debate his views in the Hellenic Electronic Center/Professors’ Forum*, but he declined our invitation.

Friedman’s overt bias is best exemplified in his remark “Greeks get away with this ‘cradle of democracy’ image! Give me a break! Ancient Greece was a slave-owning society,” which defies further comment. It is indeed unfortunate that such a statement came from a scholar. We will not respond with similar sensationalism here. Rather, we will remain close to the facts and scholarly sources, and address those points made by Friedman which might sound reasonable to a reader who is not familiar with the past and the recent history of the Southern Balkan region.1) Friedman states that “Greeks have been trying to destroy the Slavic culture and its literacy since the Middle Ages”. Quite to the contrary, the Greeks of Byzantium and the post-byzantine period immensely and crucially contributed to the development of the Slavic cultures of Russia, Bulgaria, and Serbia, during their conversion to Christianity [2]. Remarkably, Friedman neglects to acknowledge that the written Slavic languages were developed by two Byzantine Greek monastic scholars and linguists, Cyril and Methodius of Thessaloniki. Among others, Friedman also displays sheer disregard for: a) the pivotal contributions to Russian literature and philosophy by 15th century Athonite luminary monk Maximus Graecus (Μάξιμος ο Γραικός) [3]; b) the learned Greek brothers, Ioanniky and Sofrony Likhud (Λειχούδη), founders of Moscow’s first institution of higher learning, the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, in 1687 [4]; and c) the centuries-old devotion of the Mother Church (Patriarchate of Constantinople) and Greek clergy to their Slav brethren, as embodied in the published works of the 19th century influential theologian and scholar Konstantinos Oeconomos (Κωνσταντίνος Οικονόμος εξ Οικονόμων)[5], a strong advocate of the historical ties and close kinship between Greeks and Slavs through the centuries. 2) In his rather bookish and rigidly circumscribed view about linguistically divergent constituencies in Greece, Friedman challenges the very essence of Modern Greek identity by disregarding –in a historical sense– the inclusive tradition of Romiosyni, the natural precursor of the Modern Greek nation. The concept of Romiosyni is, in many respects, akin to a 'Greek Commonwealth’, which transcends racial, tribal, and regional linguistic barriers. In failing to bring this concept into consideration when it comes to the historical context of multilingualism in the Balkan region, Friedman echoes earlier claims by—let us note—Greek scholars such as the late Loukas Tsitsipis [6] of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the late Kostas Kazazis [7] of the University of Chicago. Friedman – who is no stranger to Arvanitika, Vlahika and Slavonic dialects in the geographic region of Macedonia– fails to acknowledge that linguistically variegated groups such as Vlach-, Arvanite-, and Slavonic speakers in Macedonia, members of the Ottoman Rum millet and loyal followers of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, were not "Hellenized" subjects (by way of coercive or repressive assimilation) but rather they comprised dominant forces decisively partaking in the fermentation process leading to the shaping of Modern Greek identity and the dissemination of Greek letters in Ottoman Rumelia long before the eruption of ethnic feuds, divisions, and regional nationalisms [8, 9].

3) Friedman alludes to Greek indifference or even resistance to learning foreign languages, unlike other Balkan peoples. It is surprising that a Linguistics scholar uses the (presumed) lack of a Greek proverb to the effect that ‘languages are wealth’ as evidence that Greeks do not value multilingualism. This kind of rhetoric does not constitute a sound linguistic argument, and though possibly appealing to a lay-person, it reflects a way of thinking (called “strong relativism”) that has been largely discredited in current Linguistics.

To go back to scholarly sources, in his book “Bilingualism and the Latin Language” Cambridge University Press, 2003 [10], John N. Adams, Senior Research Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, asserts that whilst "it has long been the conventional opinion that Greeks were indifferent or hostile to the learning of foreign languages, recently it has been shown that that view is far from the truth. Latin in particular was widely known, as has been demonstrated by Holford-Strevens and on a massive scale by Rochette.” [11]

With reference to the modern history of the Greek Nation (Γένος), members of the Rum millet and Romiosyni, ranging from those belonging to the high echelon of diplomats and luminaries of the Sublime Porte (viz. the Phanariots) to the ubiquitous Balkan merchants and retailers in the Ottoman Rumelia, were in fact polyglot (Greek-, Vlach-, Albanian-, Slavonic-, and/or Turkish-speaking, many of them acquainted with Russian, French, German and/or English). Noteworthy in this regard was the precocious (18th century) Greek ‘renaissance’ in Moschopolis/Moscopole (present day Albania) [12] and the 19th/early 20th century Greek cultural dimension in Pelagonia (Krushevo and Monastir/Bitola; present day FYROM) [8, 9]. These centers fostered the dissemination of Greek culture and letters, promoted by bilingual or polyglot speakers with fervent Greek national identity. Vestiges from this, once flourishing, community are still present today in FYROM.

The famous Protopiria (Primer), an Albanian-German-Modern Greek-Vlach dictionary written by the polymath cleric and scholar Theodoros Anastasiou Kavaliotis (Kavalliotes) [13], was the forerunner of comparative linguistics in the Balkans. It was printed in 1770 in Venice, and stands as a reminder of the widespread multilingualism in the flourishing Grecovlach center of Moschopolis/Moscopole and across the territories of the Ottoman Rumelia (the geographical region of Macedonia included).

Reference is made herein to the published works by Thomas Paschidis (1879) [14] and Mihail Lanbrinydis (1907) [15], which capture the collective memories of Arvanite and Vlach Greeks during the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century. These works offer a palpable proof of the Greek-Albanian kinship perceived by the 19th century Greek scholars. Noteworthy in this regard are the demonstrative sentiments of Thomas Paschidis, a bilingual -possibly polyglot- Greek Epirote/Arvanite luminary, towards his Grecovlach and Bulgarian brethren. His book contains an appendix in Arvanitika using Greek characters, which is especially informative and enlightening [14].

Given the above, we contend that claims for the presence of divergent identities of Greeks, Arvanites, Vlachs, and so-called Macedonian Slavs, based solely on linguistic grounds, should be viewed with cautious circumspection and within the context of time and space. In particular, it is somewhat surprising that Friedman did not consider the massive diffusion of Arbëreshë (Arvanite) speakers southward into the Helladic Mainland and the Peloponnese during the 14th and 15th centuries (and the most relevant Stradioti saga). Τhe remarkable fermentation and integration of Arbëreshë/Shqiptarë-speaking populations with Greek-, Vlach/Armîn-, and Slavonic-speaking members of the Rum millet during the ensuing centuries remains at the core of Romiosyni and Modern Greek ethnogenesis.

Thus, from a modern historic and anthropological perspective, the rigidly circumscribed and sharply delimited ethno-linguistic ‘definitions’ and compartmentalizations brought forward by Friedman are open to critical reappraisal. Importantly, they are, to a large extent, alien and irrelevant to the Greeks of Arvanite or Vlach origin, whose identity has been shaped by their collective participation in the Modern Greek Experience during the past two (and possibly more) centuries.

The "Declaration of the Northern Epirotes from the Districts of Korytsa and Kolonia Demanding Union of Their Native Province with Greece -- Pan-Epirotic Union in America, (Boston, 1919)" is a testament to the perception of their Greek identity among Albanian-, Vlach- and Greek speakers in Southern Albania/Northern Epirus http://www.helleniccomserve.com/pdf/Declaration%20of%20Northern%20Epirotes%20in%2019%5B1%5D...pdf

Whilst the vision of the 18th century Grecovlach luminary Rigas Velestinlis Thettalos (Feraios) for the creation of a post-Ottoman Balkan Federation/Commonwealth, transcending regional and linguistic differences, did not materialize, the idea –nonetheless- reflected the sentiment of many emancipated Greeks at the time. But the ethnic/national ‘awakenings’ and the divisive forces were already underway, heralding the partial disintegration of Romiosyni followed by a protracted and intractable course of regional feuds and dissensions, which unfortunately live up to this day. The emergence of the ethnocentric national(istic) narrative of ‘Makedonism’ is symptomatic of delayed ‘awakening’ thanks –in part- to the contributions by scholars like Dr. Victor Friedman.

4) Friedman’s argument that “the Greeks came up with a line claiming the Macedonians could not claim the name Macedonia unless they were descended from the Ancient Macedonians” is a sheer misrepresentation. The basis of the dispute between Greece and FYROM lies on the open attempt by the FYROM government to appropriate a very significant part of the Greek history (see examples: http://faq.macedonia.org/history/ and http://www.macedonia-timeless.com/). As part of its newly constructed national narrative, FYROM has opted to trace its historical roots to classical antiquity, underrating the predominantly Slavonic cultural heritage of the majority of its population, which is shared with its Bulgarian brethren. In the words of Dr. Evangelos Kofos, Greece’s leading authority on Modern Macedonian History, this all-encompassing doctrine of ‘Makedonism’ is “encroaching upon an illustrious past, which had been recorded in the annals of Hellenic heritage, almost a millennium prior to the arrival of Slavic tribes in the region” [16] (N.B. There was no Slavic presence in Macedonia until nearly 1,000 years after the time of Alexander the Great).

Aside from the grandiose ideations traceable to antiquity, there is yet another darker side to the ethnocentric national narrative of ‘Makedonism’. Central to the problem at hand is the morbid obsession with race, DNA, HLA haplotypes, and the likes, underlying a broader racial purity narrative. In the video below, one can see footage from a staged propaganda-style inspirational film titled “Makedonska Molitva” (Macedonian Prayer), which was aired on the government-run MTV1 - National TV, First Channel television station of Skopje. Note that the video culminates in a crescendo blending biblical apocalyptic delusions with overtly racial overtones from a different era. Thus, using Hellenized terms, the narrator speaks God's words to the children of the Sun and Flowers telling them that Mother Earth gave birth to three races: "Makedonjoide = white race, Mongoloide = yellow race, Negroide = black race (all others being mulattoes)." And God went on to say to the Makedontsi that, "All white people are your brethren because they carry 'Macedonian' genes." [17]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZJ62MGF7xI It is indeed regrettable that Friedman has opted to downplay the gravity and long-term implications of a morbidly nationalistic narrative nurtured in the primary and secondary school curricula of FYROM.

Greeks throughout the world do not harbor any enmity or hostility toward FYROM nationals, and yearn for a peaceful and productive coexistence between the two peoples. Greece has an earnest desire for mutual respect and the realization of a lasting political solution with its northern neighbor. Greece does not deny the nationals of FYROM their identity (or identities). In this dispute, Greece is only compelled to delineate the distinction between the ethno-cultural domains of Greek Macedonia and FYROM. With this in mind, we wish that the people of FYROM start questioning the state propaganda and reflect upon their recent history. They were victimized for half a century under a totalitarian regime and were nurtured under a propagandistic educational system. In keeping with this entrenched tradition, Article 6 of the Law on the Scientific Research Activity, as published in the "Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia" Nos.13/96 and 29/02, proscribes the development of any scientific research on the ethnic identity of the citizens of FYROM. We believe that such obsessive preoccupation with national identity in the 21st century, coupled with misrepresentation of history, only harms the citizens of FYROM.

As a geographic region, Macedonia has long been known for its ethno-linguistic diversity for which the time-honored term “Macedonian salad” was coined. Hence, Macedonia is neither a single country nor the cradle of a single nation, but a geographic region (with protean borders throughout history) parts of which belong nowadays to three states, each with its distinctive cultural heritage, national identity, and collective memory. It is most disturbing that Skopje claims the entire geographic Macedonian region of modern times as part of that nation’s “tatkovina” (fatherland), thus effectively laying claim to unredeemed territories in Greek Macedonia [18]. This is not a “hidden agenda”. The government of FYROM has published and circulated a state map showing FYROM to extend over Greek territory, including Thessaloniki [19].

The Hellenic identity of ancient Macedonia is indisputable; it is supported by historical, archeological, and linguistic evidence. For the socio-political and historical facts, the most authoritative source is the classic work of the leading scholar on the history of ancient Macedonia, the late Prof. Nicholas Hammond's book, The Macedonian State, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1989. As regards the language, by 5th century B.C. Attic Greek was standardized as the language of Ancient Macedonia (Makedon). For instance, of the 1,044 inscriptions included in the fascicle Inscriptiones Thessalonicae et Viciniae (ISBN 3 11 0018594) –one of the most painstaking and complex volumes of the Berlin corpus, encompassing all the inscriptions of ancient Thessaloniki from the 3rd century B.C. to the 7th or 8th century A.D.– most are Greek, while a few are Latin (personal communication with Dr. John C. Rouman, Professor Emeritus of Classics at the University of New Hampshire) [20]. When considering the pre-5th century B.C. language (for which evidence is more fragmentary), the current consensus seems to be that it was a Hellenic dialect. The term “Hellenic” has been proposed by Professor Brian Joseph (Ohio State University, 1999, 2001) [21] to refer to the linguistic sub-family within the Indo-European languages that comprises Ancient Macedonian and the rest of the Greek dialects. This classification has been adopted by the LINGUIST list (the official electronic site of Linguistics); seehttp://www.linguistlist.org/forms/langs/GetListOfAncientLgs.html and http://linguistlist.org/forms/langs/get-familyid.cfm?CFTREEITEMKEY=IEGOn the first site, it is additionally cautioned that “Macedonian is the ancient language of the Macedonian kingdom in northern Greece and modern Macedonia during the 1st millennium B.C. Not to be confused with the modern Macedonian language, which is a close relative of the Slavonic Bulgarian [emphasis ours].” For additional references on the subject, see G. Babiniotis, “Ancient Macedonian: The Place of Macedonian among the Greek Dialects” in : A. M. Tamis (ed.), Macedonian Hellenism, Melbourne 1990, pp. 241-250; C. Brixhe, A. Panayotou, “Le Macédonien” in: Langues indo-européennes, ed. Bader, Paris, 1994, 205–220; and J. Chadwick, The Prehistory of the Greek Language, Cambridge 1963.

5) Friedman’s assertion that the Greek State has implemented repressive measures against the “Macedonian minority” in Greece is politically motivated. Most importantly, it misrepresents the real demographic situation in the Northwestern prefectures of Greek Macedonia, by not taking into account the fact that the use of variant local Slavonic-like idioms/dialects is widespread among bilingual, indigenous Greek Macedonians with unambiguous Greek identity. These bilingual Greek Macedonians (also known as Grecomans or Grkmani) along with Grecovlachs were the backbone of Romiosyni and Hellenism in the region during the 19th and 20th centuries. Friedman should by now be cognizant of the fact that when it comes to Macedonian identities it ultimately boils down to choices of national affiliation, as, not infrequently, even members of the same family may profess divergent ethnic/national identities. And even though Greece disputes the existence of a “Macedonian minority” on the grounds of definition, the self-described “party of the Macedonian minority in Greece”, Rainbow-Vinozhito, enjoys full recognition by the Greek state (and receives a negligible number of votes in elections). Vinozhito’s members are free to openly express their grievances and dissenting opinions.

The problem of FYROM is further compounded by the fact that a large proportion of its population, and a number of the Slavophone inhabitants of Greece, collaborated with the Italian and German occupation forces (1941-1944) [22] and by the rekindling of old family feuds and grievances dating back to the days of the Greek Civil War (1945-1949). These have nowadays resurfaced thanks to the bitter politics embraced by a third generation of politicians in Skopje, belonging for the most part to the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party [16, 22]. Some of them, like current Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, identify themselves as “Aegean Macedonian” (Egejski) political refugees, based on their family roots in Greek Macedonia [16]. At issue are claims for restitution and/or repatriation, subjects that other states with autonomist Axis collaborators (such as the Czech Republic and Poland) refuse even to discuss [22, 23]. Whilst during the past thirty years the Greeks have managed to heal some of the Civil War wounds, there are still fresh memories, even among members of the Greek Communist Party, about the subversive actions of Makedonski autonomist bandsmen of NOF endangering the territorial integrity of Greek Macedonia. By playing the Egejski card half a century later, in the midst of negotiations over the thorny ‘name issue’, Skopje shows an increasingly intransigent and confrontational -rather than constructive- approach.

We conclude by emphasizing that sensationalism and sheer bias, as displayed in Friedman’s interview, serve neither historical truth nor a constructive scholarly or political discourse; and they certainly do not help the people of FYROM. No intellectual and scholar should feel comfortable accepting, let alone promoting, such rhetoric.

2. “Byzantium nurtured the untamed tribes of the Serbs, Bulgars, Russians and Croats and shaped them into nations. It gave them its religion, its institutions, its traditions, and taught their leaders how to govern. Indeed, [Byzantium] gave them the essence of culture –written language/script and philology.” F. Dvornik, Les Slaves, Byzance et Rome au IXe siècle, II, Paris 1928 and P.P. Charanis, The development of Byzantine Studies in the United States. Acceptance lecture by Professor P. Charanis upon his conferral of Doctor honoris causa by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (14.3.1972), Thessaloniki, 1973, 34. Cited in Achille Lazarou, Ellinismos kai Laoi Notioanatolikis (NA) Evropis. Diachronikes kai Diepistimonikes Diadromes. Tomos A’. Lychnia Publishers, Athens, 2009, p. 218 [ISBN 978-960-930950-9].

4. Before coming to Moscow, the Greek brothers studied in Venice and Padua. At the Moscow Academy, Ioanniky taught physics while his brother Sofrony taught physics and logic in the Aristotelian tradition, while also emphasizing the works of Byzantine philosophers. The Greek brothers embodied the so-called "Greek" trend that prevailed in Russian culture prior to the radical reforms introduced by Peter the Great. Unlike the "Latin" tradition, which emanated from medieval Western scholasticism with a slant toward rhetoric and poetry, the Greek trend focused heavily on philosophy, history, and natural sciences. The rich and fertile rivalry between these two scholarly and scientific traditions was a prevailing feature of Russian culture during the late 17th century [Source: Alexander Vucinich, Science in Russian Culture: A History to 1860, Stanford University Press, 1963]

7. Kostas Kazazis' obituary by Victor Friedman posted on the website of Society Farsarotul, a United States-based political activist group promoting the so-called independent Aromanian movement http://www.farsarotul.org/nl25_5.htm

16. See analysis by Dr. Evangelos Kofos of the ICG Report “Macedonia’s Name: Breaking the Deadlock” http://blogs.eliamep.gr/en/kofos/analysis-icg-report-macedonia’s-name-breaking-the-deadlock/#more-92 Also, see essay by the same author entitled 'The Unresolved “Difference over the Name”: The Greek perspective'. In: Kofos E, Vlasidis V (Eds) Athens-Skopje: An Uneasy Symbiosis, 1995-2002. Research Centre for Macedonian History and Documentation at the Museum of the Macedonian Struggle, Thessaloniki, 2005 http://www.macedonian-heritage.gr/InterimAgreement/Downloads/Interim_Kofos.pdf

17. See claims about the ‘Sub-Saharan origin of the Greeks’ in state-sponsored ethnogenetic studies. http://www.makedonika.org/processpaid.aspcontentid=ti.2001.pdf

20. Excerpted from the letter of Dr. Rouman to the New Hampshire Governor Craig Benson (dated 2002). Dr. Rouman was for five years, both at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, research assistant during Professor Charles F. Edson's protracted and difficult project, focusing on the editing of all the inscriptions of ancient Thessalonica from the third century B.C. to the seventh or eighth century A.D. for the German Academy of Berlin. For his meritorious contribution Dr. Edson was awarded the prestigious Charles Goodwin Award of Merit of the American Philological Association.21. Brian Joseph (1999), Ancient Greek in: J. Garry, C. Rubino, A. Faber, R. French (editors), Facts About the World's Languages: An Encyclopedia of the World's Major Languages: Past and Present, New York/Dublin, H. W. Wilson Press, 2001

22. See article by Aristide D. Caratzas titled Oi nazistikes rizes tou VMRO (the Nazi origins of VMRO) published in the Athens newspaper Ethnos (2.8.2009) http://www.ethnos.gr/article.asp?catid=11378&subid=2&tag=8334&pubid=1370687 Also, see article by the same author entitled “Why the Greek People Cannot Easily Accept FYROM’s Claims” published in The National Herald (30.8.2009)http://rieas.gr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=739&Itemid=41

23. See commentary by Evangelos Kofos titled “Unexpected Initiatives: Towards the resettlement of a Slav-Macedonian minority in Macedonia?” (Originally published in the Athens newspaper To Vima on June 25 , 2003) http://www.macedonian-heritage.gr/Opinion/comm_20030710Kofos.html

Ladikos, Anastasios, Professor, Department of Criminology and Security Sciences, University of South Africa, Pretoria, SOUTH AFRICA.Lagoudakis, Michail G., Assistant Professor, Technical University of Crete, Chania, GREECE.

Lambrinos, Panos, Professor of Mathematics, School of Engineering, Democritus, University of Thrace, Xanthi, GREECE.Lampropoulos, George A., Ph.D. Adjunct Professor, ECE Dept., University of Calgary, CANADA.

Lialiaris, Theodore S., BSc, MD, Ph.D., Assoc. Professor of Medical Biology and Cytogenetics, Medical School of Democritus University of Thrace, GREECE. Lolos, George J., Professor, Physics Department, University of Regina, CANADA.Lymberopoulos, John Ph.D., Leeds School Summer Dean, Professor of International Business & Finance Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado at Boulder, USA.

Manias, Stefanos, Professor, National Technical University of Athens, Dep. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Electrical Machines and Power electronics Laboratory, Athens, GREECE.

* Hellenic Electronic Center (HEC) www.greece.org is a non-profit (IRS 501 (c )3 (51-0377653) US organization with 38,000 members and 90 forums. The Professors' and PhDs' forum has a membership of 5,000 academics from 18 countries. One of the objectives of HEC as well as the Professors' forum is to defend Hellenic history, language, and culture and inform the global community on these issues.